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Avengers: Endgame
| producer = Kevin Feige | screenplay = | based on = | starring = | music = Alan Silvestri | cinematography = Trent Opaloch | editing = | studio = Marvel Studios | distributor = Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | released = | runtime = 181 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $356 million | gross = $2.650 billion }} 'Avengers: Endgame' is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's ''The Avengers, 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, and 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, and the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, and Josh Brolin. In the film, the surviving members of the Avengers and their allies work together to reverse the damage caused by Thanos in Infinity War. The film was announced in October 2014 as Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2. The Russo brothers came on board to direct in April 2015, and by May, Markus and McFeely signed on to script the film. In July 2016, Marvel removed the title, referring to it simply as Untitled Avengers film. Filming began in August 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, shooting back-to-back with Infinity War, and ended in January 2018. Additional filming took place in the Metro and Downtown Atlanta areas and New York. The official title was revealed in December 2018. With an estimated budget of $356 million, it is the third-most expensive film ever made. Avengers: Endgame was highly anticipated, and Disney backed the film with extensive marketing campaigns. It premiered in Los Angeles on April 22, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 26, 2019, in IMAX and 3D. The film received praise for its direction, acting, musical score, visual effects and emotional weight, with critics lauding its culmination of the 22-film story. It also broke numerous box office records and has grossed over $2.6 billion worldwide, surpassing Infinity War s entire theatrical run in just 11 days and becoming the highest-grossing film of 2019 and the highest-grossing superhero film ever, as well as the second-highest-grossing film of all time. Plot Twenty-three days after Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to disintegrate half of all life in the universe, Carol Danvers rescues Tony Stark and Nebula from deep space and returns them to Earth. They reunite with the remaining Avengers—Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Rocket, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, and James Rhodes—and find Thanos on an uninhabited planet. They plan to retake and use the Infinity Stones to reverse the disintegrations, but Thanos reveals he destroyed them to prevent further use. An enraged Thor decapitates Thanos. Five years later, Scott Lang escapes from the quantum realm. He travels to the Avengers compound, where he explains to Romanoff and Rogers that he experienced only five hours while trapped. Theorizing the quantum realm could allow time travel, the three ask Stark to help them retrieve the Stones from the past to reverse Thanos' actions in the present, but Stark refuses to help. After talking with his wife, Pepper Potts, Stark relents and works with Banner, who has since merged his intelligence with the Hulk's strength, and the two successfully build a time machine. Banner warns that changing the past does not affect their present and any changes instead create branched alternate realities. He and Rocket go to the Asgardian refugees' new home in Norway–New Asgard–to recruit Thor, now an overweight alcoholic, despondent over his failure in stopping Thanos. In Tokyo, Romanoff recruits Clint Barton, now a ruthless vigilante following the disintegration of his family. Banner, Lang, Rogers, and Stark travel to New York City in 2012. Banner visits the Sanctum Sanctorum and convinces the Ancient One to give him the Time Stone. Rogers successfully retrieves the Mind Stone, but Stark and Lang's attempt to steal the Space Stone goes awry and 2012 Loki manages to escape with it. Rogers and Stark travel to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in 1970, where Stark obtains an earlier version of the Space Stone and encounters his father, Howard, in the process, while Rogers steals several Pym Particles from Hank Pym to return to the present. Rocket and Thor travel to Asgard in 2013, extracting the Reality Stone from Jane Foster and retrieving Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Nebula and Rhodes travel to Morag in 2014 and steal the Power Stone before Peter Quill can. Rhodes returns to the present with the Power Stone, but Nebula is incapacitated when her cybernetic implants link with those of her past self. Through this connection, 2014 Thanos learns of his future success and the Avengers' attempts to undo it. Thanos captures present-Nebula and sends past-Nebula to the present in the former's place. Barton and Romanoff travel to Vormir, where the Soul Stone's keeper, the Red Skull, reveals it can only be acquired by sacrificing someone they love. Romanoff sacrifices herself, allowing Barton to obtain the Soul Stone. Reuniting in the present, the Avengers fit the Stones into a Stark-created gauntlet, which Banner uses to resurrect all those whom Thanos disintegrated. Past-Nebula uses the time machine to transport past-Thanos and his warship to the present, where he attacks the Avengers' compound, planning to destroy and then rebuild the universe with the Stones. Nebula convinces past-Gamora to betray Thanos and kills her past self. Stark, Rogers, and Thor fight Thanos but are outmatched. Thanos summons his army to devastate the Earth, but a restored Stephen Strange arrives with other sorcerers, the restored Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, the armies of Wakanda and Asgard, and the Ravagers to fight Thanos and his army alongside Danvers, who destroys Thanos' warship as she arrives. After overpowering the heroes, Thanos seizes the gauntlet, but Stark steals the Stones back and uses them to disintegrate Thanos and his army, then dies from the energy emitted in the process. Following Stark's funeral, Thor appoints Valkyrie as the ruler of New Asgard and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, while Quill plans a search for 2014 Gamora. Rogers returns the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their original places in time and remains in the past to live with Peggy Carter. In the present, an elderly Rogers passes on his shield and mantle to Sam Wilson. In the past, Rogers and Carter share a dance as they promised to and kiss. Cast * Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man: The Russos sought Downey's approval for Stark's arc, which they had developed since Captain America: Civil War (2016). Stark having no dialogue during his death scene was Downey's idea.}} * Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America: * Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk: based on the "Professor Hulk" comic book identity. This concludes a character arc that was established in Thor: Ragnarok and continued in Avengers: Infinity War.}} * Chris Hemsworth as Thor: * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: On the decision for Romanoff to sacrifice herself for Barton to acquire the Soul Stone to bring back everyone, Joe Russo stated that it was part of a larger theme exploring the desire to sacrifice, compared to the desire to protect in Infinity War; he says, "When she gets to that Stone scene, I think she understands that the only way to bring the community back is for her to sacrifice herself." McFeely stated, "Her journey, in our minds, had come to an end if she could get the Avengers back. She comes from such an abusive, terrible, mind-control background, so when she gets to Vormir and she has a chance to get the family back, that’s a thing she would trade for." To prepare for the film, Johansson underwent a high-intensity workout regimen, which included plyometrics, Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics, as well as a time-restricted eating diet; all are under the supervision of her longtime trainer, Eric Johnson, who she had worked with since Iron Man 2 (2010), the film which introduced her character. }} * Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye: * Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine: This is reflected on Rhodes' more instinctive and realist worldview in the midst of encountering the fantastic, with Cheadle explaining, "He’s definitely got some 'what-the-eff-is-happening' attitude, more than maybe the rest of them do, given his background. But it’s a trial by fire, and he’s quickly adapted to what threat is, rather than what he wishes it were."}} * Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man: }} * Brie Larson as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel: * Karen Gillan as Nebula: Gillan guessed that Nebula would play a prominent role in the film when she realized that Infinity War and Endgame would be adapted from The Infinity Gauntlet, which she had previously read when she was initially cast as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Gillan shared several scenes with Downey in the film's opening, and the two improvised most of their scenes together.}} * Danai Gurira as Okoye: A Wakandan traditionalist from the Border Tribe who is the head of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda's all-female special forces and T'Challa's bodyguards. * Benedict Wong as Wong: A Master of the Mystic Arts tasked with protecting some of Kamar-Taj's most valuable relics and books. * Jon Favreau as Harold "Happy" Hogan: The former head of security for Stark Industries and Tony Stark's driver and bodyguard. * Bradley Cooper as Rocket: }} * Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts: * Josh Brolin as Thanos: Markus explained that the character's early death "reinforced Thanos’s agenda. He was done...it was like, 'If I’ve got to die, I can die now.'" In addition to providing the voice for the character, Brolin performed motion capture on set.}} Several actors whose characters died during the events of Infinity War reprise their roles in Endgame, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther, Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne / Wasp, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw, Vin Diesel as Groot, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Michael James Shaw as Corvus Glaive, and Terry Notary as Cull Obsidian. Monique Ganderton provides the motion capture performance for Proxima Midnight, having previously played the role with Carrie Coon. Also reprising their roles from previous MCU films, including characters who died before the events of Infinity War, are Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Rene Russo as Frigga, John Slattery as Howard Stark, Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Taika Waititi as Korg, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, Winston Duke as M'Baku, Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow, Jacob Batalon as Ned, Robert Redford (in his final role before retiring from acting) as Alexander Pierce, Ross Marquand as Red Skull, Kerry Condon as the voice of Stark's suit A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y, Callan Mulvey as Jack Rollins, and Ty Simpkins as Harley Keener. Sean Gunn reprised his role as Kraglin Obfonteri, though it is uncertain if footage of his appearance was used. Natalie Portman appears as Jane Foster through the use of a deleted scene from Thor: The Dark World and new voice over that Portman recorded for when Foster appears talking in the distance. James D'Arcy reprises his role as Edwin Jarvis from the MCU television series Agent Carter, marking the first time a character introduced in an MCU television series appears in an MCU film. Additionally, Hiroyuki Sanada portrays Akihiko, a Yakuza boss operating in Tokyo who opposes Barton. Alexandra Rabe portrays Morgan Stark, Tony and Pepper's daughter. Katherine Langford was cast to portray an older Morgan, but her scene was deleted from the film. Emma Fuhrmann portrays present-day Cassie Lang, Scott's daughter. Avengers co-creator Stan Lee has a posthumous cameo in the film, appearing digitally de-aged as a car driver in 1970; this is his final cameo appearance in film. Ken Jeong and Yvette Nicole Brown cameo as a storage facility guard and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, respectively. Co-director Joe Russo (credited as Gozie Agbo) has a cameo appearance as a gay man grieving the sudden loss of a loved one, which is the first time an openly homosexual character has been portrayed in an MCU film. Joe's daughters Ava and Lia respectively portray Barton's daughter Lila and a fan of Hulk. Thanos creator Jim Starlin also appears as a grieving man. The character Howard the Duck appears in a non-speaking cameo. Production In October 2014, Marvel announced a two-part sequel to Age of Ultron, titled Avengers: Infinity War. Part 1 was scheduled to be released on May 4, 2018, with Part 2 scheduled for May 3, 2019. In April 2015, Marvel announced that Anthony and Joe Russo would direct both parts of Avengers: Infinity War, with back-to-back filming expected to begin in 2016. Also in the month, Kevin Feige said the films were titled as two parts of a single film "because they have such shared elements", but he would not actually describe them as "one story that's cut in half. I would say it's going to be two distinct movies." By May 2015, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely signed on to write the screenplays for both parts of the film. The following May, the Russos revealed that they would be retitling the two films, to further remove the misconception that the films were one large film split in two, with Joe stating, "The intention is we will change titles, we just haven't come up with them yet." In July 2016, Marvel removed the film's title, simply referring to it as Untitled Avengers film. Feige and the Russo brothers indicated the title was being withheld because it would give away plot details for this film and Infinity War. Principal photography began on August 10, 2017, under the working title Mary Lou 2, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, with Trent Opaloch serving as director of photography. The film, along with Infinity War, were shot using IMAX/Arri 2D cameras, thus marking the first time that a Hollywood feature film was shot entirely with IMAX digital cameras. Also in the month, filming occurred in The Gulch area of Downtown Atlanta, near the Five Points MARTA station, and Piedmont Park. Feige explained that the films were originally scheduled to be filmed simultaneously but were ultimately shot back-to-back, as "It became too complicated to cross-board them like that, and we found ourselves—again, something would always pay the price. We wanted to be able to focus and shoot one movie and then focus and shoot another movie." Anthony Russo originally felt it made more sense to shoot the films simultaneously due to financial and logistical reasons considering the large number of cast members, even though each part is its own distinct film, and suggested that "some days we'll be shooting the first movie and some days we'll be shooting the second movie. Just jumping back and forth." Production wrapped on January 11, 2018, although additional filming took place in Dutchess and Ulster counties in New York in June 2018. Reshoots began by September 7, 2018, and concluded on October 12, 2018. More reshoots occurred in January 2019. Evans and Hemsworth each earned $15 million for the film. On December 7, 2018, with the release of the film's first trailer, the title was revealed to be Avengers: Endgame, while also moving its release date in the United States to April 26, 2019. Visual effects for the film were created by Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Digital, DNEG, Framestore, Cinesite, Digital Domain, Rise, Lola VFX, Cantina Creative, Capital T, Technicolor VFX, and Territory Studio. As with previous MCU films, Lola once again worked on the de-aging sequences. The 1970 New Jersey sequences featuring a young Hank Pym, referenced Michael Douglas' appearance in The Streets of San Francisco. Jeffrey Ford and Matthew Schmidt served as the film's editors. Music In June 2016, Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for The Avengers, was revealed to be returning to score both Infinity War and Endgame. The Russos started working with Silvestri on the Endgame score in early November 2018, and it was completed in late March 2019. Silvestri described the score as having the most versatile tone of the franchise, ranging from "thunderous percussion and powerful brass" for the action sequences to minimalist, jazz-inspired music for Ant-Man and the quantum realm. Silvestri reprises his themes from the previous Avengers films and Captain America: The First Avenger, such as material he wrote for Thanos and the Infinity Stones in Infinity War. He found writing the music to end Captain America's story poignant, since he had "been on this journey with him since the beginning". The film's score also uses Christophe Beck's Ant-Man theme, Michael Giacchino's Doctor Strange theme, and Pinar Toprak's Captain Marvel theme. Additionally, the songs "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone and "It's Been a Long, Long Time" by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn are used, after previously being heard in Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, respectively. A soundtrack album featuring Silvestri's score was released by Hollywood Records digitally on April 26, 2019, with a physical release on May 24. Marketing The marketing campaign for Endgame is the largest for any Marvel Studios film, surpassing $200 million and beating Infinity War s $150 million campaign. Promotional partners include Stand Up to Cancer, Mastercard, Ulta Beauty, the Audi e-tron GT Concept car (which is also featured in the film), McDonald's, GEICO, Coca-Cola, Google, General Mills, Hertz, Ziploc, Oppo, and Synchrony Financial. A year prior to the film's release, Germain Lussier of io9 spoke on the approach Marvel might have to take in marketing the film, given the end of Infinity War, which sees many established characters die. He questioned if those characters would appear on posters and in toy campaigns and if the actors portraying them would participate in press events leading up to the film's release. Lussier felt Disney and Marvel could focus on the original Avengers team members, who make up the majority of the living characters, but noted it would be more beneficial to show the return of the dead characters, which would "build a mystery and curiosity about they come back. It could create a whole new level of interest about the film while having all the stars front and center, as they should be". In June 2018, Feige spoke to this, stating that these dead characters would not be featured in any marketing for the film, though the decision regarding that could change. He presented a behind-the-scenes video from the film at CineEurope, and said that the official marketing campaign for the film would begin at the end of 2018 with the announcement of the film's title then. In early December 2018, ahead of the first trailer's release, Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter spoke to the "fevered anticipation" surrounding it. McMillan felt what was so remarkable about the anticipation, was that it was mostly "fan-created, without noticeable direction from Marvel or the filmmakers involved" and that the amount of knowledge surrounding the film without any type of promotion was "a kind of brand awareness that most studios would kill for". Because of this, McMillan urged Marvel not to release any trailers for the film since "the advanced level of enthusiasm that's already out there for the movie... is only likely to build as it gets closer to" the film's release. That said, he added that the eventual release of the trailer would take away the "Schrödinger's cat-esque position... it currently enjoys" as it was "almost guaranteed to disappoint fans, who have by this point built up their own personal trailers filled with whatever moments are essential to their enjoyment of a good teaser". The first trailer for the film was released on December 7, 2018. Dustin Sandoval, vice president of digital marketing for Marvel Studios, stated the marketing team "actively made the choice not to include the title or hashtag of the movie in our trailer posts so fans could see it at the end reveal without it being spoiled". Richard Newby, also of The Hollywood Reporter felt, while not much new was revealed in the trailer, it "offers a somber glimpse of a universe made unrecognizable" and lets the viewer "sit, rightfully so, with the ending of Avengers: Infinity War and our questions of loss". Newby also noted how the trailer "calls back to beginnings of the MCU... as the visual language used in the trailer does a great service by highlighting these characters' humble beginnings", and concluded it leaves viewers with "just as many questions as we had before". Austen Goslin of Polygon pointed out that the title not only references a line Doctor Strange tells Tony Stark in Infinity War, but also a line spoken by Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Goslin, who felt this was "probably not an accident", said, "The scene surrounding this line in Age of Ultron is one of the most important ones in the movie. Things look dark, and the group of heroes face an enemy they don't think they can defeat." As such, the Endgame trailer "mirrors this perfectly" and "shows us that the Avengers' two most prominent characters are who they've always been: Iron Man, a pessimist who keeps fighting no matter how hopeless things look, and Captain America, an optimist who believes that nothing is hopeless when the world's heroes fight together". The trailer was viewed 289 million times in its first 24 hours, becoming the most viewed trailer in that time period, surpassing the record of Avengers: Infinity War (230 million views). The trailer also set a record for Twitter conversation for a film trailer in the first 24 hours generating 549,000 mentions. By January 3, 2019, BoxOffice revealed their "Trailer Impact" metric service indicated approximately 77–78% of people surveyed who viewed the Endgame trailer in the past three weeks expressed interest in seeing the film. In the three weeks it was measured by "Trailer Impact", it was number one for all, and had the top two percent of respondents express interest in seeing the film since the service's introduction in March 2018. The second trailer for the film, along with the theatrical release poster, was released on March 14, 2019. The poster, featuring 13 characters, had 12 of those actors listed on the top-billing, with Danai Gurira excluded. Despite Gurira's name appearing in the poster's bottom billing block along with Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, and Gwyneth Paltrow (none of whom were featured on the poster), her exclusion in the top billing prompted criticism from fans. Petrana Radulovic of Polygon noted how an actor is credited on the poster "is a complex process" and "the omission of Gurira in the top billing was less of a conscious decision than the ramifications of dealing with agents, fees, and movie star demands." However, later in the day Marvel Studios released an updated poster with Gurira's name in the top billing. The second trailer was viewed 268 million times in the first 24 hours, becoming the second most viewed trailer in that time period, behind the film's first trailer. Release Theatrical Avengers: Endgame had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Convention Center on April 22, 2019. Disney converted the convention center's Hall K for the film's premiere, working with Dolby and QSC Audio to install a screen, Dolby Vision projectors, and a Dolby Atmos sound system. The convention center also held the premiere's red carpet arrival and after party. It was released in China, Australia, and other parts of Asia and Europe on April 24, 2019, in the United Kingdom on April 25, in the United States and India on April 26, and Russia on April 29 in IMAX and 3D. It was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on May 3, 2019. As reported by Radio Liberty, it was alleged that, in Russia, the Russian Government controversially ordered to postpone the film's release in the country in order to promote Russian-produced films. Following the release of the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home on May 6, 2019, Marvel began showing it at the end of Endgame showings, with a message from that film's star Holland telling the audience to stay until the end of the credits to see it. Home media Avengers: Endgame will stream exclusively on Disney+ starting December 11, 2019. Reception Box office , Avengers: Endgame has grossed in the United States and Canada, and in other territories, for a worldwide total of . It is the highest-grossing film of 2019, as well as the highest-grossing superhero film of all time, highest-grossing film based on a comic book, second-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide and in the United States and Canada, as well as the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide when adjusted for inflation. It is also the highest-grossing MCU film alongside the highest-grossing Marvel film and the highest-grossing film worldwide released by Walt Disney Studios. The film had a worldwide opening of $1.2 billion, the biggest of all time and nearly double Infinity War s previous record of $640.5 million. It was also the fastest film ever to eclipse the $1 billion and $1.5 billion mark, doing so in just five days and eight days respectively (less than half what it took Infinity War). Deadline Hollywood estimated the film would break-even just five days after its release, which is "unheard of for a major studio tentpole during its opening weekend". The website estimated it would turn a net profit of $600–650 million, accounting for production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs, with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from home media. On May 4, the film's earnings at the global box office passed the entire theatrical run of Infinity War and became the fastest film to ever gross $2 billion worldwide, amassing the amount in only 11 days (beating Avatar that did so in 47 days). It also became the fifth film in cinematic history to surpass the threshold (after Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Infinity War). It also became the second film in cinematic history to surpass the threshold of grossing $2.5 billion worldwide (after Avatar). Pre-sale records In late December 2018, Endgame was named the second-most anticipated 2019 film by IMDb behind Captain Marvel, the most anticipated blockbuster of 2019 according to the ticketing service Fandango, and the most anticipated overall film by Atom Tickets. Due to the high demand when pre-sale tickets became available in the U.S. on April 2, 2019, customers on both Atom Tickets and Fandango experienced long wait times and system delays, while AMC Theatres' website and app crashed completely for several hours. The same day, Fandango announced the film became its top-selling pre-sale title for the first 24 hours, topping Star Wars: The Force Awakens previous record in just six hours. Atom said the film was also the website's best selling first-day film (outselling Aquaman by four times), and Regal Cinemas reported that Endgame had sold more tickets in its first eight hours than Infinity War did in its entire first week. The film grossed $120–140 million in pre-sales alone. The day prior to the film's release, Fandango announced it was its biggest pre-selling title of all time, beating The Force Awakens, with over 8,000 sold out showtimes across the country. In India, the film sold one million tickets in just one day for the English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu language screenings; 18 tickets were sold every second. In China, pre-sale tickets became available on April 12 and sold a record one million tickets in just six hours, outselling Infinity War s first 24 hour total within the first hour, and made $114.5 million (RMB 770 million) just from pre-sales. United States and Canada .]] On April 4, industry tracking projected the film would gross $200–250 million domestically during its opening weekend, although some insiders saw those figures as conservative and expected a $260–300 million-debut. By the week of its release, domestic estimates had risen to $260–270 million, with some insiders still suggesting a $300 million debut was possible. The film played in 4,662 theaters, 410 of which were in IMAX; it is the widest release ever, surpassing the record of Despicable Me 3 s 4,529 theaters. Avengers: Endgame earned $357.1 million in its opening weekend, breaking Infinity War s record by nearly $100 million. It also set records for Friday ($157.5 million, including $60 million from Thursday night previews), Saturday ($109.3 million) and Sunday ($90.4 million) totals, as well as was more of a total gross alone than the previous box office high of all films combined ($314 million). The film then made $36.9 million on Monday and $33.1 million on Tuesday, both the third-highest of all time. In its second weekend the film made $147.4 million (the second-best sophomore frame ever) for a 10-day total of $621.3 million. It was the fastest film to ever pass the $600 million milestone, beating The Force Awakens 12 days and less than half the 26 days it took Infinity War. The following week, the film grossed $64.8 million, the fourth-best third weekend ever. It also passed the $700 million mark, tying The Force Awakens record of 16 days. Endgame was finally dethroned in its fourth weekend by newcomer John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, however its $29.3 million was enough for it to pass Avatar as the second-highest grossing film ever domestically. Other territories Internationally, Endgame was projected to gross around $680 million over its first five days for a global debut of $850–950 million. The film was initially projected to gross $250–280 million in China in its opening weekend, but made a record $107.5 million (RMB 719 million) in the country on its first day, including $28.2 million (RMB 189 million) from midnight, 3 AM and 6 AM screenings, beating The Fate of the Furious previous record of $9.1 million. Due to the record-breaking first day, partnered with word of mouth (with a 9.1 on local review aggregator Douban and a 9.3 on ticket website Maoyan), debut projections were increased to over $300 million. Overall, the film made $169 million on the first day from international countries, the highest total of all time. Its largest markets after China were India ($9 million), South Korea ($8.4 million; the largest non-holiday single day gross ever), Australia ($7.1 million), France ($6 million) and Italy ($5.8 million). Like domestically, the film ended up over-performing and debuted to $866.5 million overseas. Not only was it the highest foreign amount ever, but it was single-handedly more than Infinity War s global opening of $640 million. Its largest markets, every one of which set the record for best-ever opening in the country, were China ($330.5 million; RMB 2.22 billion), the United Kingdom ($53.8 million), South Korea ($47.4 million), Mexico ($33.1 million), Australia ($30.8 million), Brazil ($26 million), Spain ($13.3 million), Japan ($13 million) and Vietnam ($10 million). It also made $21.6 million over its first four days in Russia after a delay of its premiere that was caused by the Russian government. In its first week, the film's top five largest international markets were China ( ), the United Kingdom ( ), South Korea ( ), Mexico ( ), and India ( ). A week after its release, it became the highest-grossing foreign film of all time in China and India. In its second weekend the film's running total passed $1.569 billion from international markets, passing Titanic as the second-highest film overseas of all time. Critical response On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 95% approval rating based on 457 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Exciting, entertaining, and emotionally impactful, Avengers: Endgame does whatever it takes to deliver a satisfying finale to Marvel's epic Infinity Saga." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100 based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled for CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade, the third Marvel film to earn the score after The Avengers and Black Panther, while those at PostTrak gave it 5 out of 5 stars and a "definite recommend" of 85%. Writing for NPR, Glen Weldon gave the film a positive review and found the film to be a worthy sequel to its predecessor, stating, "The Russos' decision to stick close to the experiences of the remaining Avengers proves a rewarding one, as they've expressly constructed the film as an extended victory lap for the Marvel Cinematic Universe writ large. Got a favorite character from any Marvel movie over the past decade, no matter how obscure? Prepare to get serviced, fan." Peter Travers in his review for Rolling Stone magazine gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying "You don’t have to make jokes about the clichéd time travel plot — the film is ready, willing and able to make its own, with Back to the Future coming in for a serious ribbing." Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "After the must-see showdown that was Infinity War, the Russo brothers deliver a more fan-facing three-hour followup, rewarding loyalty to Marvel Cinematic Universe. J.R. Kinnard of PopMatters wrote "Big budget action filmmaking doesn't get much better than this." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "What comes across most strongly here, oddly enough for an effects-driven comic-book-derived film, is the character acting, especially from Downey, Ruffalo, Evans, Hemsworth, Brolin and Paul Rudd". Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film four stars and called it "the undisputed champion the MCU when it comes to emotional punch". Roeper went on to praise the "funny, well-paced, smart, expertly rendered screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, crisp direction from Anthony Russo and Joe Russo..., and the universally stellar performances the cast." The New York Times reviewer A. O. Scott gave the film a positive though guarded review, stating, "Endgame is a monument to adequacy, a fitting capstone to an enterprise that figured out how to be good enough for enough people enough of the time. Not that it’s really over, of course: Disney and Marvel are still working out new wrinkles in the time-money continuum. But the Russos do provide the sense of an ending, a chance to appreciate what has been done before the timelines reset and we all get back to work." Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Avengers: Endgame achieves and earns its climactic surge of feeling, even as it falls just short of real catharsis". Some have noted the film as a notable improvement over its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, such as Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com, who stated that Endgame is "a more patient, focused film [than Infinity War], even as its plot draws in elements of a dozen other movies." Matt Zoller Seitz, also of RogerEbert.com, gave the film a positive assessment as compared with Infinity War, which he considered "too crowded, too rushed and yet too long". Seitz stated that Endgame is "a heartfelt and satisfying experience", along with being a "surprisingly relaxed, character-driven, self-aware yet sincere comedy for two-thirds of film. Much of the script suggests a laid-back Richard Linklater movie with superheroes". Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker, was more critical of the film, opining that the good acting was not matched by comparable skill from the directors. He said: "The Russos have peculiarly little sense of visual pleasure, little sense of beauty, little sense of metaphor, little aptitude for texture or composition; their spectacular conceit is purely one of scale, which is why their finest moments are quiet and dramatic ones". Anthony Lane of The New Yorker gave the film a compromising review, finding it to be overdeveloped and overwrought, stating: "The one thing you do need to know about Avengers: Endgame is that it runs for a little over three hours, and that you can easily duck out during the middle hour, do some shopping, and slip back into your seat for the climax. You won't have missed a thing."Anthony Lane. The New Yorker. 'Dual film review: “The White Crow” and "Avengers: Endgame"'. April 26, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/06/-the-white-crow-and-the-difficulty-with-dance-movies Accolades Future In May 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger said of Marvel's plans beyond Endgame, "I'm guessing we will try our hand at what I'll call a new franchise beyond Avengers, but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't see more Avengers down the road. We just haven't made any announcements about that." Iger added, "Given the popularity of the characters and given the popularity of the franchise, I don't think people should conclude there will never be another Avengers movie." Shortly after the film's premiere, Anthony Russo stated that he and Joe Russo did not "have any plans for now to make any more Marvel movies" after Endgame, but that they were not opposed to returning to the MCU in the future due to their positive relationship with Marvel Studios. 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